Are you sitting comfortably? ...and other health & safety matters
A recent YouGov poll sought to uncover UK office workers’ experiences, attitudes and concerns ahead of the easing of COVID-19 lockdown measures and the gradual return to work.
There's plenty of juicy data in the report and among it the following stats about office workers' concerns regarding health and hygiene:
59% of workers are worried about maintaining social distancing
44% are worried about hygiene and other cleaning standards (of the office and others, for example)
With this in mind it feels like a good time to provide some reassurances about what we have done, and are continuing to do, here at Workshop. Before reopening we completed a risk assessment as recommended by the Health and Safety executive. As a result of this we produced our COVID secure workplace policy as shared with you earlier this week, and which you can read on our website. During our trial opening we were given useful feedback including a brainwave from We Mean This’s Matt Beese to help ease pressure on the kitchen, which was to have a coffee and tea point on each floor. This has been actioned for the ground floor and when a few more of you return on the first floor we'll have one there too.
If you have any concerns about returning, or any more brainwaves to help us create a safer workplace, please share.
Something else that came out of the workplace risk assessment (stay with me) was the need for a good desk setup, whether you're working from home or at Workshop.
We probably all know what we should be doing, more or less, but it never hurts to have a reminder so here are a couple of links to the Health and Safety Executive advice for home workers (which also covers loneliness, stress and mental health): HSE homeworkers toolbox
And last but not least a DSE (display screen equipment) workstation checklist.
With all the new acronyms I'm learning I'm thinking there's plenty of material for a new quiz round at the Workshop socially-distanced-office-Christmas party-2020.